Executive Summary

Introduction

SYSTRA Ltd, in partnership with Wellside Research and Sustrans,
were commissioned by the Scottish Government "to provide the latest
evidence on school transport choices and which approaches have been
effective in influencing these, in order to inform the development
of workable and deliverable policies that minimise the proportion
of journeys to school made by car while increasing the proportion
choosing active travel."

The study was overseen by a Project Steering Group with
representation from across Scottish Government Directorates,
including Learning, Transport Policy (Active & Sustainable
Transport) and Energy & Climate Change. The Society of Chief
Officers for Transport (
SCOTS),
Association of Transport Coordinating Officers (
ATCO)
and Association for the Directors of Education Scotland (
ADES) were
also represented on the Steering Group.

The study comprised three main phases, as follows:

A familiarisation phase consisting of a Literature Review,
secondary data analysis, and stakeholder discussions, which
informed the case study selection process and helped guide the
design of data collection materials;

A qualitative fieldwork phase involving a mix of 11 primary
and secondary schools and consisting of:

Interviews with school staff - Head Teachers, Deputy Head
Teachers or other members of the school staff;

Pupil mini-focus groups with P6, S1 and S3 pupils who
currently travel to school by sustainable modes or have the
option to do so;

Pupil led interviews with their parents at home; and

Local authority and other stakeholder discussions.

Analysis and reporting of the data to produce recommendations
that can inform the development of an integrated package of
policies on tackling the school run.

Context

School Travel Trends

The Sustrans' Hands Up Scotland Survey (
HUSS) is an
annual survey undertaken in the second week of September each year.
Established in 2008,
HUSS is the
largest national dataset recording how pupils travel to school
across Scotland. The most recent
HUSS data for
2015 reported that over 2,060 schools took part in the survey
across all 32 local authorities in Scotland. Out of this total,
2,045 were state schools (80.3% of all registered state schools in
Scotland), with responses received from 474,200 state school pupils
in Scotland (69.7% of all state school pupils enrolled in
Scotland).

In summary, 49.7% of pupils surveyed in 2015 said that they
normally travel to school in an active way (walking, cycling, using
a scooter or skateboard):

Walking was the most frequent mode of travel with 43.3% of
pupils stating that they normally walk to school; and

3.5% of pupils said they normally travel to school by bicycle
and 2.9% stated that they normally use a scooter or skateboard to
travel to school.

A further 7.8% of pupils said that they normally park and stride
to school.

42% of pupils surveyed in 2015 said that they normally travel to
school using only a motorised mode of transport. The majority, were
either driven to school (22.4%) or took the bus to school (17.9%).
A further 1.7% travelled by taxi.

In summary, school travel trends indicate that active travel
accounts for the largest proportion of the school journey in
Scotland, but varies between primary and secondary years as well as
state and independent schools. This is reflective, in part, of the
school catchment area alongside wider factors which are further
explored through the literature review and fieldwork.

Policy

The
National Transport Strategy (
NTS) sets
the long-term vision for transport policy in Scotland. It was first
published in 2006 and more recently refreshed in 2015 followed by
an announcement in August 2016 that a full review will be
undertaken.

In terms of school travel, the
NTS notes
that:

"We need to tackle the congestion problems in many of our
cities and towns, including those caused by the School Run which
also lead to inactive lifestyles for our children and road
accidents which cause deaths and injuries and contribute to
problems of congestion and unreliable journey times."
National Transport Strategy (Transport Scotland, 2016)

The
NTS is
complemented by mode specific policies, including A Long Term
Vision for Active Travel in Scotland 2030 (Transport Scotland,
2014), Cycling Action Plan for Scotland 2013 (Transport Scotland,
2013) and Let's Get Scotland Walking: The National Walking Strategy
(Scottish Government, 2014).

From a policy perspective, the impact of the school run is
cross-cutting. It has a direct impact in terms of transport and
associated congestion and national targets to increase travel by
more sustainable and active modes. The journey to school is also
influenced by wider policy, particularly in terms of planning and
also impacts on other policy areas including health and the
environment.

Factors Influencing School Travel

The literature review and fieldwork identified that there are
many and wide ranging factors which influence travel choices for
the journey to school. These range from the individual level in
terms of pupil and parent perceptions and travel distances through
to the school in terms of how active travel is viewed and promoted.
Wider local and national policy is also key in terms of home to
school transport provision as well as considerations pertaining to
planning concerning the location of schools and provision for
active travel in both the surrounding environs along with the
school grounds.

Wider aspects in terms of linkages between school travel and
benefits of active travel in relation to, for example, health and
well-being are more widely recognised. The intricate linkage
between the school run is, however, more far reaching. Busy
lifestyles and demands on time can influence travel behaviour as
can flexible working practices and school wrap around breakfast and
after school clubs. This can have an influence on travel choices
through, for example, the trip chaining of the journey to school
with another purpose such as a work or shopping trip and resultant
impact of convenience in particular on travel choices.

The influence of these different factors were also highlighted
in the fieldwork.

School Travel Initiatives in Scotland

The research illustrated the wide array of travel and behaviour
change initiatives that have been implemented in different school
settings across Scotland as well as training and infrastructure
based measures. The literature review also identified measures
implemented across the wider
UK and internationally
with the aim to increase travel to school by more sustainable modes
of transport.

In summary, there is an existing range of well-developed and
well known national scale projects in Scotland that local
authorities and schools can access, and most case study schools had
also developed a range of local initiatives, which varied in
nature, scope and size. Some schools had implemented both
behavioural change initiatives and infrastructural measures/changes
at the school gate and across their community to encourage and
facilitate more active and sustainable transport.

Changes in other dimensions, in particular the Curriculum for
Excellence and increased flexibility were also noted to have
introduced the opportunity to integrate transport into classroom
learning and complement the aim to increase active travel. Examples
include the Eco-Schools programme, supported by the development of
lesson plans as part of resource packs for specific initiatives
such as Walk Once a Week and Bikeability. Some initiatives, such as
School Camps organised by Cycling Scotland, also highlighted the
wider personal development and learning opportunities associated
with active travel related initiatives, such as training
accreditations.

Where the impact of initiatives had been considered, there was
generally a positive impact reported in terms of encouraging active
travel but with the scope for further work in this area to identify
impacts more at the school and wider national and regional level.
Preliminary analysis undertaken as part of the study and findings
reported in wider literature suggests a co-intervention approach
with different initiatives working in combination is most
effective, although more detailed analysis would be required to
identify the significance and potential for differing levels of
impact taken account of wider factors, such as the characteristics
of the school setting.

Key Findings

In summary, the research has identified there is no single
answer to achieving high levels of sustainable transport in
schools, but rather, a combination of key elements appears to be
important. These can be summarised as follows:

Provision of infrastructure to facilitate sustainable and
active travel choices;

Strong and solid delivery of training to allow safe use of
the infrastructure;

Regular and ongoing reinforcement of initiatives to encourage
behaviour change and increase the number of school journeys being
made by active and sustainable modes, complemented by periodic
events and/or competitions to maintain interest along with
incentivisation/reward; and

Achieving buy-in from the whole school community (including
staff, pupils and parents) as well as external parties (including
local authorities and delivery partners) and integrating active
and sustainable travel fully into the school ethos and
culture.

Key challenges were, however, also identified in promoting
active travel and particularly in relation to:

Addressing real and perceived safety concerns through the
provision of infrastructure linking with the school gate. This
was often found to be compounded by parking pressures and
associated congestion at the school gate during drop-off/pick-up
times;

Resource constraints, both at the school level and in terms
of dedicated personnel at local authorities, to lead, repeat and
enforce the school run message at the local level;

Sustaining active travel into secondary years due to a
variety of reasons ranging from school catchments increasing in
size, to school workloads/kit requirements and wider
choices/increasing independence;

Budgetary pressure and competing priorities at central and
local Government, as well as within the financial year, school
year and funding programme years which vary and can create
challenges in terms of maximising the use and benefit drawn from
available resources within a particular time period; and

Whilst this research arose as part of a package of measures to
address climate change, the scope for the work did not require the
identification or measurement of reduction in car use/distance
driven, or air quality levels around case study schools. As such,
the extent to which the efforts made by schools to tackle the
school run are impacting on climate change/pollution levels cannot
be established from this research. Further, the climate change
agenda was not credited in the research as driving schools'
delivery of behaviour and infrastructure change programmes.
However, the research does suggest that schools' efforts to tackle
the school run should indeed be contributing to the Government's
commitment to address climate change, as well as wider health and
well-being agendas, and transport objectives.

Recommendations

The research has highlighted there is a role for different
departments at the national and local levels, to continue and have
greater involvement in tackling the school run and promoting active
travel/travel behaviour changes.

Cross-Departmental

On the whole, there appears to be scope for greater joint
working and cross-departmental funding of initiatives and
infrastructure developments across the various local and national
Government departments. However, within this it will be important
that the core messages and aims of initiatives are not diluted or
confused, so that schools can set clear priorities and be suitably
supported to achieve these.

Specific cross-departmental considerations include:

Cross-agency working to support the delivery of local
initiatives against a backdrop of resource constraints. This may
be through, for example, cross-departmental Government funding to
provide mentoring and administrative support via national
delivery partners; and

Enhanced cross-working between Government departments and
agencies to ensure initiatives are inter-linked where
appropriate, consistent delivery and the opportunities presented
by active travel are fully embraced. For example, strengthening
of relations between Scottish Government/Transport Scotland,
sportscotland (Active Schools) and Education
Scotland (Daily Mile). The Daily Mile is an initiative where
transport can directly positively contribute through embedding
walking and cycling within everyday activity such as the journey
to/from school.

Transport

The transport sector has to date led on supporting schools and
the wider community to develop sustainable travel habits and to
change social norms away from car use and towards active modes.
While this is and will continue to be key, lessons from the
research highlighted the benefits of community buy-in, and there
may be scope to increase the role of the school community in the
design of new infrastructure using some of the examples highlighted
in this report. Further and wider engagement between transport and
other policy areas is also a key dimension.

Specific roles for the transport sector include:

Leading on further development of cross-departmental,
consistent and long-term programme of initiatives supported by
appropriate funding;

Strengthening the role of the School Travel Plan and guidance
from national and local Government in order to bring consistency
to the process and facilitate the travel planning process as
intended
i.e. to instil sustainable and active
travel behaviour and monitor change over time;

Review of the requirement for match funding applications in
all circumstances, with consideration of alternatives such as
contributory funding and 'value in kind' to facilitate wider roll
out of programmes to other areas and schools and with a longer
term commitment. The short-term nature of funding programmes was
identified as a factor by some stakeholders and also raised at
the
SCSP
Learning Event attended by the research team;

Consideration of the development of an Annual School Active
Travel Summit for Government, local authorities, delivery
partners and schools to come together to share experiences and
learning with representation from across different sectors with
an interest and direct role to play in addressing the school run
challenge;

Engagement at the national level with authorities currently
piloting the School Streets initiative to understand impacts and
the potential for wider roll out across other authorities in
Scotland, facilitated in the first instance by a Government led
working group; and

Further developing monitoring/measurement of initiatives
progress and impact. Most schools noted that they take part in
the national Hands Up Scotland Survey (
HUSS)
annually and many also utilised the Travel Tracker, but there
appeared to be opportunity for greater use to be made of these
data sources to monitor initiatives or to identify changes in
travel patterns at the school level. There is scope to further
use these data sources to not only understand trends at the
school level, but to help schools and local authorities to plan
and develop local policy and help with the targeting of
initiatives.

Education

Education is considered to have a greater role to play to drive
forward messages to schools about the school journey, and to set
priorities for schools. Stakeholders indicated that where behaviour
change initiatives can be communicated to schools via the local
Education Departments, the relationship with, and buy-in from the
school was often better than those authority areas where other
departments facilitated this. It was also shown throughout this
study that the role of the 'travel champion', and the motivation
and enthusiasm of that individual, is vital in the success of
initiatives and instilling motivation and behaviour change in the
pupils. As such, the importance of this role, and the benefits that
the 'right person' can bring should be promoted to schools.

Recommendations for consideration include:

Strengthening of the role of Education Departments in
national and local Government in relation to the development and
delivery of school travel based initiatives and measures. This
would bring forward more Education to Education dialogue and
assist in embedding sustainable transport into school culture and
learning at the school level;

Further profile raising of transport within the Education
sector and at higher levels through a variety of methods, for
example utilising the Association of Directors of Education, an
Annual Learning Event, Head Teacher/Staff forums, and potentially
through the school inspector process. This would assist in
raising the profile of transport in the school environment from
an operational perspective in terms of access, as well as
learning opportunities, and supported by examples of best
practice. The Government would have a key role to play in
facilitating this process; and

Reinforcing the opportunities afforded by transport and
related initiatives in terms of Curriculum links, including
learning related to
STEM
subjects as well as the development of wider life-skills for
young people in Scotland.

Planning

Similarly, a stronger and more pro-active role is suggested for
Planning to provide a consistent structure and framework for new
developments, particularly residential as well as school led
developments, which considers access to and within the school gate
from the outset. This includes, any new development that occurs on
a popular route to a school which should also have consideration of
the promotion/facilitation of active travel/safe routes
incorporated at the planning stages. A number of case study schools
had benefited from infrastructure changes at the school gate and
within the wider community, whilst others continued to suffer the
negative effects related to parent's perceptions of safety
regarding their route to school. Safer routes to schools are as
equally vital in changing pupils travel choices as the provision of
initiatives.

Focus for future policy should concentrate on:

Strengthening of Scottish Government planning guidance to
local authorities to ensure planning authorities and
infrastructure developers take account of school travel, and in
particular the provision for access by active and public
transport when planning new educational or residential
developments. Such consideration is equally important where the
provision of new facilities is by Public Private Partnerships;
and

The impact on (as well as the provision of) safer active
routes to school should be addressed where developments are
considered to have a significant impact on the transport network
within a school catchment area or equally also provide
opportunities to enhance active routes within a school catchment
area. Further, consultation with schools and funding is also
vital to identify and tackle problem areas.

Health and Well-Being

The links between health and well-being and active travel were
well known among respondents in this study with active travel
promoted in schools during Health Weeks. However, it will be
important that the health benefits of active modes continue to be
communicated to/through schools, and therefore vital that a
consistent message is maintained. There is the potential for health
and well-being departments to become more actively involved in
terms of their role in tackling the school run and there is scope
for greater cross-departmental co-ordination and funding of
initiatives. Health Departments can also assist in the reduction of
car use more generally by communicating health benefits of active
travel and contributing to working towards normalising walking and
cycling.

Environment

Environment and Climate Change Departments also have a role to
play and there is learning to be drawn in terms of looking at how
health has become particularly embedded and associated with active
travel choices at the school level. While there was an awareness of
environmental aspects associated with sustainable travel, there is
considered to be the opportunity to utilise curricular links to
further strengthen the linkage and connection of this in terms of
transport and travel choices at the school, family and individual
level, as well as at the wider community level.